Why are we building AI

I know that technological progress is almost inevitable and that “if we don’t build it, they will”. But as an AI scientist, I can’t really think of the benefits without the drawbacks and its unpredictability.

We’re clearly evolving at a disorienting rate without a clear goal in mind. While building machines that are smarter than us is impressive, not knowing what we’re building and why seems dumb.

As an academic, I do it because of the pleasure to understand how the world works and what intelligence is. But I constantly hold myself back, wondering if that pleasure isn’t necessarily for the benefit of all.

For big institutions, like companies and countries, it’s an arms race. More intelligence means more power. They’re not interested in the unpredictable long term consequences because they don’t want to lose at all cost; often at the expense of the population’s well-being.

I’m convinced that we can’t stop ourselves (as a species) from building these systems, but then can we really consider ourselves intelligent? Isn’t that just a dumb and potentially self-destructive addiction?